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impact of the american revolution on women
impact of the american revolution on women
american revolution change the role of women
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The 18th and 19th centuries were eras of revolution and reform. The American Revolutionary War and its outcome finalized America’s freedom from Great Britain, and the new nation of America began to take form. This was a time of new rights, freedoms and life under American society and rule. Yet, not all people within America’s borders got to reap the full benefits of the Revolutionary War. Many minorities did not gain much from or after the war, because of discrimination, racism, fear, or standards set by the white men of America. One of these minorities was infact women. No matter what age, race or status of women during these centuries, they still did not have or gain their full freedoms. After the American Revolutionary War, women did not …show more content…
In the years leading up to the American Revolution, women did not have many specific freedoms or rights. They were viewed as lesser than men, an ideal that was evident far into the 20th century. This concept was a major factor in women 's lives as they did not obtain as many opportunities as men, more specifically free white men, in their home lives, work and society. Women were most commonly at home, and did not work. They were commonly depicted as weaker than men, and mainly as homemakers and mothers. The online article, “Revolutionary Changes and Limitations: Women”, lays out the common society, “At this time, women were widely considered to be inferior to men, a status that was especially clear in the lack of legal rights for married women.” Women experienced a lack of rights in many aspects, as men were viewed more able to take care of finances and land. Women who married had even less rights then those who did not, as married women found themselves legally in a state of nearly total dependence (“The Legal”). Men became more established and often flourished with their rights in society, yet women had little education, and most were illiterate. If any education was given, it was the mere basics. This …show more content…
As the many years before, American women had vastly less rights than men. After the Revolution, most women returned back to their jobs and/or duties at home, and women were no longer as socially involved as during the war (“After the Revolution”). The concept that women should only be housewives, and their job was to take care of the house and their husband became strictly prevalent again. Women’s voices were not taken as a serious contribution, and education for women was lacking. Sarah Grimke’s 1838 writing, Letters on the Equality of the Sexes, emphasizes, “Much that she does and says and thinks is done in reference to this situation; and to be married is too often held up to the views of girls as the sine qua non of human happiness and human existence,” (Grimke). Grimke writes on how women’s value is commonly determined by her marital status and home life, yet not one’s own being or ideas. She also depicts how the study of homemaking was more pushed than an actual education, and that women’s mental and physical labor is worth less than a man’s. All of these points were widely accepted in society in the 18th and 19th centuries. This did not however stop women from trying to advocate for their rights and freedoms. Women like Abigail Adams, Dolley Todd Madison and Judith Sargent Murray were open in their distaste for the current
Before the Revolution, women were not allowed a voice in the political world. They almost had no rights, especially if they were married. They were granted fewer opportunities than men. Women were to stay at home care for the household and family. However, that soon began to change. When the Stamp Act was passed in 1765, it required colonist to pay a tax on every piece of printed-paper they used. Women refused to pay for the shipped items from the mother country, “The first political act of American women was to say ‘No’(Berkin 13). As from then, an uprising in issues began to unroll. Women began to seek their voice been heard and act out on problems that were uprising, such as the British Tea. As the war broke out, women’s lives changed even more. While men were in compact, they kept their families alive by managing the farms and businesses, something that they did not do before the war. As the fighting advanced, armies would rummage through towns, destroying homes and seizing food-leaving families with nothing. Women were attacked while their property was being stripped away from them; some women destroyed their own property to keep their family safe. “Women’s efforts to save the family resources were made more difficult by the demands of the military.
Up until and during the mid -1800’s, women were stereotyped and not given the same rights that men had. Women were not allowed to vote, speak publically, stand for office and had no influence in public affairs. They received poorer education than men did and there was not one church, except for the Quakers, that allowed women to have a say in church affairs. Women also did not have any legal rights and were not permitted to own property. Overall, people believed that a woman only belonged in the home and that the only rule she may ever obtain was over her children. However, during the pre- Civil war era, woman began to stand up for what they believed in and to change the way that people viewed society (Lerner, 1971). Two of the most famous pioneers in the women’s rights movement, as well as abolition, were two sisters from South Carolina: Sarah and Angelina Grimké.
Women, like black slaves, were treated unequally from the male before the nineteenth century. The role of the women played the part of their description, physically and emotionally weak, which during this time period all women did was took care of their household and husband, and followed their orders. Women were classified as the “weaker sex” or below the standards of men in the early part of the century. Soon after the decades unfolded, women gradually surfaced to breathe the air of freedom and self determination, when they were given specific freedoms such as the opportunity for an education, their voting rights, ownership of property, and being employed.
Education did not form part of the life of women before the Revolutionary War and therefore, considered irrelevant. Women’s education did not extend beyond that of what they learned from their mothers growing up. This was especially true for underprivileged women who had only acquired skills pertaining to domesticity unlike elite white women during that time that in addition to having acquired domestic skills they learned to read a result becoming literate. However, once the Revolutionary War ended women as well as men recognized the great need for women to obtain a greater education. Nonetheless, their views in regards to this subject differed greatly in that while some women including men believed the sole purpose of educating women was in order to better fulfil their roles and duties as wives and mothers others believed the purpose of education for women was for them “to move beyond the household field.” The essays of Benjamin Rush and Judith Sargent Murray provide two different points of view with respects to the necessity for women to be well educated in post-revolutionary America.
In the early nineteenth century, women were measured as second-class citizens whose existence was narrowed down to the interior life of the home and the care of them children. After marriage, they did not have any rights to own property, maintain their wages, or sign a contract, and were unable to vote. It was expected that women be dutiful wives, never to hold a thought or opinion independent of their husbands. It was also considered inappropriate for women to travel alone or to speak in public. Women were also taught to cease from pursuing any serious education. Silently floating in their cages, they were seen as merely objects of beauty, and were looked upon as intellectually and physically substandard to men. However, among these simple housekeepers are social reformers, wonderful mothers, and powerful women of faith who changed the world by changing their own.
Often historical events leading up to the twentieth century are dominated by men and the role of women is seemingly non-existent outside of reproduction. When one thinks of notable and memorable names and events of the Revolution, men are the first to be mentioned. The American Revolution was mainly dominated by men including George Washington, Samuel Adams, and Benjamin Franklin. There is no denying that men were vitally important to the American Revolution, but what were the women doing? Often overlooked, the women of the Revolution played a key role in the outcome of the nation. The women of the American Revolution, although not always recognized, were an influential society that assumed risky jobs like soldiers, as well as involvement
The need for women’s rights began back in colonial America where women were referred to as “inferior beings”. This era, though it is not particularly noted for it’s feminist movements, did hold such people as Margaret Brent, who was a wealthy holder of land in Maryland and was a strong, but unsuccessful voice in securing a place for women in the legislature of the colony. It was also a period where Quakers, and many other individuals, such as famous American patriot, Thomas Paine supported the rights of women, but at the time it was not enough to make a significant difference and it wasn’t until the 19th century that women would get the real chance to make a difference.
The reform movements in the 19th century significantly represented many conflicts, which inevitably lead into the Civil War. Many people thought it was time to stand up for recognition and to transform America’s economy. This was certainly among ordinary Americans who felt the deep sense of commitment into highlighting their concerns out to the open public. The religious zeal founded in these people emanated from the Second Great Awakening. This wave greatly influenced minorities, such as slaves and women to break from their enslaving chains and emancipate themselves into suitable circumstances. However, as these issues began to arise, slavery received the most attention. By this means that reforms, such as women’s rights, were eclipsed and women once again waited another long years to receive their rights. As looking back at history, women were the last “species” to receive the same rights as men. Let alone the lifestyle created purposely for women, like the cult of domesticity, that showed home as a women’s sphere. Yet women referred home as a glide cage. Despite that men continued to look at women as helpless species, many respective women, during the antebellum period, showed the society just what a woman could do as to speaking their invaluable truths, hosting meetings, and participating in numerous protests that signified a woman’s capability. Meaning by this is women got involved into other movements not concerning them at all, for their evangical spirit drove them into working for the human goodness.
All throughout American history people have been experiencing prejudice, whether it is because of their race, their class, their ethnicity, etc. Another deciding characteristic of inequality is gender. American women during the turn of the 19th century were constantly treated like they were inferior to men. Men got better everything from food, to clothes, to opportunities and jobs. Women didn’t have control over their belongings, their ideas, or even their bodies. They faced a constant struggle of conflict between standing up for themselves, and remaining obedient to the men in their lives.
As early as 1765 women have been trying to prove themselves and make a mark. The daughters of liberty played an important role by participating in boycotts of British goods following the passage of the Townshend acts. The vast majority of women were house wives taking care of the children and putting food on the table. Married women had a more restrictions than single women. Married women couldn’t own property, get divorced, and had little to no legal protection; whereas single women could sue, be sued, write wills, serve as guardians own property and act as executors of estates. The power between men and women changed after the American revolution.
The American Revolution changed women’s role in society. Women who ran the household in the absence of men became more assertive. Women were thought to be weaker then men. The country was thought of as a patriarchy. “A patriarchy is a social structure in which the father is the head of the household, and he has absolute authority over his wife and children” (Leach 2). The image of women being weak was challenged when women began to participate in the conflicts, whether it was helping soldiers or being nurses/caregivers. People perceived women as worthless and that they had no value. Men and women are created equal and nobody is more valuable than another. “With the growing emphasis being placed on republicanism, women were expected to help promote these values; they had a special role in raising the next generation” (Kerber 1). The women of this time period were a big influence of the next generation to come. What they did created a huge reflection on them. Equality was a big struggle faced back then and still to this day. The role of these women wasn’t embraced until later on. Women had a lot of responsibilities and that put a lot of pressure on them
Women were only second-class citizens. They were supposed to stay home cook, clean, achieve motherhood and please their husbands. The constitution did not allow women to vote until the 19th amendment in 1971 due to gender discrimination. Deeper in the chapter it discusses the glass ceiling. Women by law have equal opportunities, but most business owners, which are men, will not even take them serious. Women also encounter sexual harassment and some men expect them to do certain things in order for them to succeed in that particular workplace. The society did not allow women to pursue a real education or get a real job. Women have always been the submissive person by default, and men have always been the stronger one, and the protector. Since the dawn of time, the world has seen a woman as a trophy for a man’s arm and a sexual desire for a man’s
Throughout history, women have not been viewed as equal to men. Therefore, much of their opportunities have been limited. Many women never attended school because they were not allowed, thus never getting the same education as men. This lack of education forced most women to stay at home and maintained the household. When women would try to make something of themselves, there would be groups of men who would harm them. There was so much violence toward women because they simply had no rights. Men, often, did not care if they hurt a woman because they did not view them as equal. Men thought of women more as property then a person. Woman in the United States began to stand up for themselves and demand some rights. One of the first organized demonstrations of this was in 1848 at Seneca Falls, New York. Because of this and many other movements throughout history, women in the United States have been able to get jobs today that would have be considered a man’s job in the past. Even though many women throughout the world do have rights today, there are still some women in third world countries that do not have any. Many of these women live in countries that have a government which do not view them as equal. These women are still refused an education, endure extreme violence and are forced to stay at home. Therefore, although there have been great advances within the woman’s rights movement, there are still many more obstacles to overcome.
Throughout the twentieth century, American women fought for the right to vote, the right to make choices regarding their own bodies, and the right to be their own people. The disparities between men and women were often overlooked or blindly accepted, but as Gloria Steinem said, “history is herstory too.” After nearly 200 years of struggling, women made up only 10% of Congress, received wages less than 75% of their male counter parts, and are stigmatized based on their class and race. By the end of the century, female citizens were still treated unfairly in every aspect of American society. Women did not achieve equality in America in the 20th century, based on their roles in politics, the widespread views of female sexuality, and the race, class, and gender ideals for women at the time. Although women have made progress in each of these areas, and more, they still have so far to come.
Achieving roles for women that are as equal as men, before and during the twentieth century, appeared to be inevitable in the United States. Women were limited to domesticity, performing duties that only serve their families as wives, mothers, and diligent daughters. Women were absorbed and accustomed to these standards, oblivious to their worth and capabilities that are above and beyond their set domestic duties. “Groups of women challenged this norm of the twentieth century and exceeded their limited roles as domestic servants by organizing movements whose sole purpose is to achieve equality within a male-dominated society” (Norton